North Imenti MP Rahim Dawood has said independent candidates seeking office for the first time are having a hard time getting signatories.
The legislator who is also seeking to defend his seat as an independent said most Kenyans do not trust them with their ID cards.
Dawood spoke on Monday after receiving his IEBC certificate. He had fulfilled the requirements of about 2,000 signatures required from independent candidates vying for MP.
"For me its not that hard, I had 25,000 signatures. IEBC said they only required 2,000 because of bulkiness," he said.
This comes after Roots Party flagbearer George Wajakoya and his Usawa counterpart Mwangi Wa Iria failed to meet the required signatures and were not cleared by the IEBC.
"This is a requirement that needs to be removed and I will be lobby for it to be removed if elected in the 13th Parliament," the MP said.
Dawood said a party candidate does not need signatures, yet some parties don't have so many members. "This is like an advantage to those in parties."
The legislator who vied on a Jubilee ticket in 2017 said he opted to vie as an independent after chances of him being rigged out in three parties.
He said other competitors seeking the seat had ganged up against him in party primaries and after consulting his supporters, he opted to vie as an independent.
"I had the option of vying on Jubilee, UDA and Devolution Empowerment party. I was promised a direct ticket in all of them. I was not too sure until the last minute," Dawood said.
He further urged his rivals to exercise political tolerance as they campaign after some of his campaign vehicles were damaged by opponents last week.
"There are some who are hiring goons to attack my campaign trail and others are using social media to hurl insults. Let them know they will not get votes using such outdated practices," Dawood said.
The MP said he will clinch the seat in August polls as his main competitor Silas Muriuki is not competing against him.
"Although his daughter is vying, she is not equivalent to Muriuki. If Muriuki was vying, I would say I have competition," he said.
Dawood said he has accomplished much as a legislator adding that most tarmacked roads in Meru county are in his constituency.
"I have tried to get more roads and I have managed to have 40 transformers for the constituency. I had applied to get 10 water dams and pans but I got two. One has been built while the other is in the tendering process," he said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
